SweetPea

Get out of town! See you onboard then! We booked ages ago when itineraries were first announced and thank God we did since prices have skyrocketed. We're on Deck 17. We'll buy you a drink in the Haven!

Been there, done that. Love it! Also, pics or it didn't happen... On second thought, maybe not!

Do you think they'll do anything about your feedback?

Now this is getting silly. Not only did we get a post cruise survey, which they passed with flying colors, we got a phone call and email from Anjelica thanking us for our feedback. Now I just received another survey request to share our experience with Anjelica....

Now that is what I call a Cup o' Diabetes.

Is it too early to start now? Kidding! Batman still has no idea I blogged my way through this vacation. I only got away with it because it was my birthday during the cruise and he assumed I was responding to well wishes, lol. I didn't want to risk having no SC available at all (heaven forbid!). Or be stuck in a corner GL for that length of time.... Half the time I claim I tell Batman about a vacation and then when he pleads ignorance, I tell him he must've forgotten. ?

Well, this just happened. It seems Star Class books up early for the longer itineraries and there was only one middle GL left, which I promptly snagged. It's very early to book, but I'll just suffer the penalty if we need to change anything. 12 nights is my sweet spot, so I'd rather have this on the books than not. Oh, and Batman has no clue.... I will spring this on him at a time TBD... Probably on a rare night that he switches from Coors Lite to tequila... Or maybe in December when we do the same cruise on the Bliss and he starts whining that he has to get his own drink for the shows or that we have to leave our luggage out the night before disembarkation....

I'm sorry I'm not much help as we've only flown internationally out of EWR and JFK. In September, we flew JFK to CPH direct on Norwegian Air as we only needed a one way flight. If you're looking at using Norwegian Air due to their tempting one way fares, I strongly advise you to use caution. We only had slight problems (hour+ delay, don't bother to pick your seat. My aisle turned until a middle with no recourse). However, there were well over 100 people on our transatlantic cruise who had a Sunday evening flight with them for our Tuesday afternoon cruise departure. Their fight was so delayed that we stayed in port till just before 9pm (4p scheduled departure) waiting for them. Our first stop was only in Sweden and the port was not in a hurry to kick us out. But none of these folks got to spend any time in Copenhagen and had about a 36 hour delay. We have arrived internationally in PHL. That was a nightmare. If our connection wasn't seriously delayed, we'd never have made it with a 90 min buffer.

Is Coco Cay the La Sagrada Familia of Royal? Can't wait to hear all about it!

Ah, yes, those cabanas are lovely. The advantage of concierge is that requests for them are preloaded once the booking window opens, so concierge still gets first dibs over platinum. Often there are no cabanas available for platinum. And I don't even want to see pricing for the new ships.... Yikes! Batman says we'll try luxury lines in 20 years. ? Nightlife is important to us, and we love the entertainment and variety a large ship offers. My crackwhip research shows the luxury lines are much more sedate. I'm too afraid we'll be bored, especially after 9pm. Not conducive to the elusive Midnight Mongoose....

Again, big thank you to everyone who followed along! I feel the love! Now that I've decompressed and begun the detox process (barely, I have about 8 more weeks to go...), I wanted to do a debrief. My review was a bit scattered, and I wanted to put the comparisons all in one place for those interested. As I mentioned, we are also platinum on Disney, but I'm not going to bother to do much of a comparison there. I'll sum it up here: the perks of booking concierge on Disney are pretty much the privilege of getting a Cabana on the Family Beach at Castaway Cay. Be prepared to email that request for a Cabana on the family beach to the shoreside concierge team at exactly midnight on 125 days out. I'm never sure if Disney creates neurotics or attracts them. You do get priority check in that is shared with Platinum guests. If you're concierge, you'll get an escort on the ship. You'll have access to the concierge lounge, where drinks are served 5p-10p. Disney has no drink package, 1-2 specialty restaurants which you will pay for like everyone else. No reserved seating for shows. No special disembarkation, unless you ask for an escort off the ship, which may or may not be available. Essentially, you're paying obnoxious prices to score the Cabana, a bigger room, access to the lounge, and the concierge team who acts as your guest services. After our fill, we're done with Disney and won't be back. Now to sum up Royal Star Class v. Haven, I've created a table I'm hoping I can upload in a way that you'll be able to view. Seeing it on paper, it's clear who the winner is. But for us, our cruising decisions will always be based on ship, itinerary, and price. I can safely say we are no longer loyal to the Haven and will always consider Royal SC. We have no intention of canceling our 12-night Southern Caribbean 2BR/2 bath Haven room on the Bliss in December. I feel we got a good deal, and no SC rooms are available on the Anthem during the same time frame, and I remain hesitant to book us outside of SC. We're still really looking forward to the Bliss. We love the courtyard concept. After this, I still need to get bridge tour pics from Batman. I haven't even seen them yet myself. It'll be a surprise for all of us! Royal Port of Cape Liberty.docx

My ratio is currently 8:1. Meaning 8 weeks of recovery for every one week of cruising. I'll try on those jeans again at the end of June.... Maybe July to be safe.

I honestly wasn't expecting breakfast. It was over WAY TOO quickly. Is that where you get your screen name?! We are doing a 2BR on Bliss in December. Can't wait! I will say that yes, we did miss the Courtyard. The suite sundeck was pretty lacking, but it sounds like you're doing Oasis class and I hear those class ships have amped up the suite sundeck amenities. @Lovetocruise2002 might be able to tell you about that. ? You shouldn't have an issue getting seats, I would think. What we missed most was the Haven bar. We always, always meet new folks and make friends there. There were lovely folks at the Pub, but not the same as running into the same people night after night. You will love Coastal Kitchen. Your Genie will make your reservations. We liked that the menu changed. I'm getting ready to do a sum up, as soon as I drink my detox tea and nap!

OMG, it's 9:30a and we are home. This is drinking from a cup of the crazy right here.

Lol, Derick came to our room at 8. We were in our towncar by 8:15! Amazeballs.

Who says you can't have room service breakfast on the last day?

We are back in NJ. Boo. I will do some wrap up later. I've saved all the Cruise Compasses if anyone is interested, but I don't think there are many more cruises with our itinerary. I will post pics of the bridge tour also. Those aren't on my phone. I didn't think pics would be allowed. Derick is meeting us at 8 to escort us off. He says he's bringing me a Bloody Mary. I've never drank on disembarkation morning before... Good thing I have some detox tea waiting at home. Thanks to everyone who followed along!

That sucks. Norwegian OBC (which I have > 100 shares of stock always gets me my shareholder benefits, more lenient than Royal) is allowed to be used towards Cruise Next certs.

Yeah totally. We always buy 2 500$ Haven certs for 750$ when I have OBC. We get 1000$ worth in deposit when we book 6 months out. So for our Bliss 12 night Haven Southern Caribbean, I used 750$ Norwegian given OBC to buy 2 Haven certs to put a deposit down on the Bliss 12 night Southern Caribbean. So essentially I got 1000$ deposit free.

We gave the Pub an unopened jar of Bleu Cheese Stuffed Olives. They're too polite to keep it to themselves. If you're a fan of Bloody Mary's or Dirty Martinis next cruise, ask them for some to complement your drink.

Don't get me wrong.. We loved the walk in showers on Royal. But I think the showers with benches like Haven are better. Bath set up and supplies (bar the Shampoo that doubles as a body wash) are better in Haven. This is the Singular place Haven wins in a Landslide. Plus, the dressing table. If you're blind like me, the magnifying mirror is amazing.

Also, yes, I did recon. And someone kind enough from the FB SC cruisers group suggested the personalized stationery. He can't use it. But loves his pens. ?

Don't be silly. I border on ridiculous. I look forward to your Oasis class blog! I am dying to try that class!

I'm going to give you a close up of the amazing giraffe. He used tape and rubber bands.

Gosling's always packages nicely. We bought 4 bottles totaling 84$. Will advise if we're charged duty.